


Sunrise Smile

by Entwinedlove



Series: Of Heart and Heroes [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 01:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17173235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Bucky contemplates the sky after he's rescued from Kreischberg.MCU Almost-No-Rules Bingo Card 7:B1Cloud,B3Imperfection,B5Out,B2Morning,B4Window





	Sunrise Smile

Bucky opened his eyes. He didn't move, just laid there and marveled at the sky above his head. It was just the lightest shade of blue, the dawn come to kiss the night goodbye. There was a single puffy cloud past the treetops but he would dare anyone to call it an imperfection. That single cloud held promise. Hope. Or maybe he was just losing his damn mind.

Around him, the camp was waking up. The hundreds of men Steve saved. He'd given up hope of ever getting out, of ever getting his men out. Men who had trusted their lives into his hands. He thought of the kid he'd whispered promises to, late in the night when the others might not see him cry—"You're all right, you're going to get out. You'll see, we're all going to make it out and when we do we're going to get to go home."—even as his own faith in salvation had dwindled and died.

Bucky didn't even know what had happened to the kid. That morning, Zola had come round to make selections for the isolation ward again. Bucky'd seen the bug-eyed doctor eying up the kid and he'd volunteered. That had to have been days ago, ages ago. He hadn't seen the kid since. That didn't mean he was dead, of course, with all the soldiers in a free-for-all, it was altogether possible that he was here somewhere.

"It's a pretty sight to wake up to, huh?" Steve said softly from nearby. Bucky'd heard him get up already, gone to chat with the officers and NCOs to see how everyone was faring but he'd let Bucky sleep. Steve himself caused so many questions and worries and thoughts Bucky thought his head might explode. Why did he... how did they... "Buck?"

Bucky refocused his attention to Steve, who was standing a little closer now. "Hmm?" he asked, finally taking a deep breath. It wasn't the best smell in the world—gunpowder, blood, unwashed bodies—but it wasn't death. It wasn't rot. It wasn't his own vomit. He could feel the crispness of fall in the air, smell the pine of the trees and the dirt under his back.

"I asked if you liked the sunrise."

Bucky sat up and stretched, offering up a hum of agreement as he did. "I'd like it better if I was seeing it out the window of our apartment in Brooklyn but yeah, sunrise is nice." He wouldn't tell him how he hadn't expected to see another one or how it still felt like it was all a dream. Those weren't thoughts he should burden on Steve.

"Buck, the window in our apartment faced north."

"Yeah, well. You said that was better for painting." Bucky was rewarded with one of Steve's bright smiles, one that could compete with any sunrise. He was definitely thankful he got to see that one more time.


End file.
